Residents of a village in southern New Mexico were ordered to flee their homes on Monday evening without taking time to grab any belongings due to a fast-moving wildfire.
“GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately,” officials with Ruidoso, a village home to 7,000 people, said on its website and in social media posts at about 7pm.
Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to part of the village due to the fire, which was estimated at about 8.2 sq miles (21.2 sq km) with 0% containment, the state forestry division said late on Monday. The agency said multiple structures were under threat and a number had been lost. A portion of US highway 70 was closed south of the village.
“We were getting ready to sit down to a meal and the alert came on: evacuate now, don’t take anything or plan to pack anything, just evacuate,” Mary Lou Minic told KOB-TV. “And within three to five minutes, we were in the car, leaving.”
The South Fork fire started on Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where the tribal president issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency. It was burning on tribal and US Forest Service land within areas surrounding Ruidoso.
A second fire, called the Salt fire, also was burning on the Mescalero reservation and south-west of Ruidoso. It was over 4.3 sq miles as of Monday night with no containment, the forestry division said.
The village of Ruidoso is about 75 miles (121km) west of Roswell, where several evacuation centers were set up.
An air quality alert was issued for very unhealthy air in Ruidoso and surrounding areas due to smoke.
The evacuation of Ruidoso was ordered after at least 1,200 people were forced to evacuate in southern California because of the Post fire. That wildfire had burned more than 16 sq miles at the time the evacuation was ordered.
‘Evacuate immediately’: New Mexico villagers told to flee fast-moving fire - The Guardian US
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